During the same time when the majority of our team was competing in Speedo Sectionals, five gopher swimmers went up to Canadian nationals. Canadian athletes Devin Ste. Marie, Breanne Siwicki, Sam Harding and I all flew up to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to compete in the meet. It is always a rewarding opportunity to compete in the homeland against other Canadian swimmers once or twice each season. We were also excited to have American Logan Redondo join our ranks, racing prior to US nationals this summer, as well as coach Kelly Kremer. We had a great group together and kept ourselves busy (and our nerves down) before the meet playing hearts and spending our loonies and toonies. It was the first time for many in the group to go to Saskatoon (all but me and Breanne) and it was a fun opportunity to see some new parts of Canada. We all enjoyed a dinner at the mall and were surprised at the staggering price of firewood.

The meet ran from Wednesday to Saturday and we had great performances across the board from start to finish. All five of the gophers competed in finals and the consolation finals. After we found a cozy bench on the pool deck to set up camp, we really hit our stride. Some highlights of the week included: Sam's emphatic wins in the 800 and 1500-meter freestyle, Devin's fourth place 200 fly, my third place in the 200 freestyle, Breanne's 5th place 400 IM, and Logan's ninth place mile. It is always fun to reconnect with our Canadian club teams at nationals and we enjoyed cheering on Devin in a mixed 400 freestyle relay, while I had the pleasure of swimming on my club team relays with Sam and Breanne. I went directly from nationals to an archaeological dig in Italy. A few weeks have passed, but with so many of my teammates competing well in American nationals this past week, it seemed like a fitting time to reflect on the summer. It is a proud week to be a gopher.

Have a great last few weeks of summer, and I hope that everyone is getting excited for the upcoming fall season!